6 Situations When A Candidate Can Accept An Offer At Par Or A Lower Compensation

It sounds painful to accept an offer at a CTC (cost to company) which is either at par or lower than your current one. Right? The answer to this question I know is subjective. But it’s similar to life situations when we, at times, consciously accept things which give us short term pain to achieve long term pleasure.

I am in no way saying that you need to under value yourself in the job market. You certainly need to keep the focus on your strengths and worthiness you bring to the table. However, with my experience of handling thousands of candidates, I have come across situations wherein candidates miss the woods for the trees and do not evaluate the offer in its totality.

If the overall prospects of the job offer are good and you as a job seeker currently find yourself in a challenging situation, evaluating an offer at a lower CTC or at par does make sense.

It is important to evaluate an offer holistically rather than just focusing on the immediate gain/loss in terms of money. Let me list down situations wherein such an offer is worth considering:

Situation 1: If you have been jobless for some time now and in spite of your structured efforts for a job search, a concrete offer has not materialised.

As you know, getting hired depends upon multiple variables which might not necessarily be under your control. Maybe your experience is limited to a specific niche or you are competing on the age factor with youngsters. And age is more of a perception challenge, requires a different kind of approach to handling it.

The reason you are without a job could have been a sudden decision on part of your past employer, maybe downsizing or any other like there could have been issues with the man-management style of your boss. But the fact is that being jobless is painful.

So take a decision considering the other aspects besides the monetary loss like

Job profile

Work culture of the company

Career prospects

Stability offered

Opportunity to learn and develop new skills

Brand reputation of the company.

If some of the above outweigh the money offered, it is worth considering the opportunity because within say one year, you will be in a position to cover up also for the monetary loss you experienced while accepting the offer. It is better than being without any income for another few months and increasing the career gap. You can always continue building your career once you get employed. Remember, the larger the gap, the more challenging it becomes to get your next job.

Situation 2: If your current CTC is exceptionally high as compared to industry standards for some reason. Maybe you have joined a start up wherein the tendency of employers is to give an exceptionally attractive hike to hire talent. Or, it can be that you have received a very recent salary hike in your current organisation .

Even in situations like these, if the overall prospects of the job are better and offer a stronger platform to make greater use of your skills, then a lower CTC or at par can be considered.

Situation 3: The job offer gives you an opportunity to learn a new skill in a different domain or industry which you are certain will see a far better growth rate as compared to your current job.

For example, if you are inclined to move from traditional media to the Digital space, and the offer is from a reasonably reputed brand with an enriching job role, it would propel your career on a fast track.

Situation 4: In case you are keen to relocate to a particular region/city or have any other compelling personal reason, then also you can consider the offer.

In such cases, the compromise gets compensated by achieving a balance with your other priorities in life.

Situation 5: You have made too frequent job shifts in your career span. Here again to handle the instability factor remains a challenge.

In case the offer is from a company which is relatively well established in the marketplace and has a track record of offering long-term career prospects, then it is worth considering an adjustment on the salary front.

Situation 6: The prospective employer is offering a lower fixed component but a high and attractive variable linked to performance.

If there is a track record of the company rewarding it’s employees with a better compensation linked to results, consider it. Evaluate the other aspects of the offer.

While as I mentioned at the beginning of my article that the decision is subjective, the above 6 situations can give you some food for thought so that you do not miss the woods for the trees. And decisions in such instances can help put your career back on track.

In case you have any queries, please feel free to ask in the ‘comments’ section below.